I grew up listening to Peter Gabriel’s So in my parent’s car - actually if I had to create a playlist from what I remember from my childhood it would feature Peter Gabriel, the Beatles, Paul Simon, and Joe Cocker.
Even though I grew up soaking in great vocalists and music it took me awhile to really appreciate Tom Waits. Whereas all of the artists I mentioned were great songwriters, Tom Waits takes the song and turns it into its own person, entity, and experience. That can often make it hard to get down to the actual melodies and story, but if you’re patient, you can see what a great storyteller and image-painter he is.
Here is a video from The Voice Project where artists cover eachother’s songs to raise awareness for war-torn portions of Africa. Great cause, great project, great video.
